For a variety of reasons, people often find themselves unable or unwilling to pay their existing financial debt obligations. For example, a person can lose his or her job, suffer a serious accident or be struck down by a debilitating illness. As a direct result of such events, people may find themselves unable to work and, thus, suffer from a substantial reduction in income. In some of these cases, a person may receive supplemental income in the form of unemployment or disability benefits, while in other more unfortunate cases, a person may not receive supplemental income of any kind. Indeed, even if supplemental income is received, such benefits typically last only for a limited time, or they may fail to adequately compensate an individual for the loss of their current income. Moreover, some people facing significant financial problems declare personal bankruptcy in order to alleviate their personal debt.
A number banks and other financial institutions have developed alternative payment options under which customers can restructure their existing debt obligations during times of economic crisis when, due to circumstances such as those described above, they are presently unable to make scheduled debt payments. This problem often arises in the context of credit card debt due to a number of factors, including, the proliferation of credit cards issued and the spending habit's of cardholders. In an effort to manage the risk associated with this situation, banks, credit unions and other financial institutions are seeking ways to collect outstanding credit card debt short of allowing customers to default on their obligations. This enables banks and other such institutions to avoid losses and the costs associated with the collection process for delinquent accounts.
Alternative payment options may range from relatively simple strategies, such as deferring a payment for a limited time, to more complex strategies, such as a flexible payment program under which customers are permitted to make reduced payments based on a percentage of their current income.
The alternative payment options best suited to a customer vary depending upon numerous factors, including, but not limited to: the customer's current debt obligations; the number and amount of such obligations; the reason(s) for which the customer cannot meet those obligations; the financial resources upon which the customer can draw, if any; and the customer's credit history. Consequently, identifying, analyzing and tracking the payment options available for a given individual's financial situation is typically a complex and time consuming task. This complexity is compounded by the fact that an institution's alternative payment options, as well as an individual's financial circumstances, often change periodically. Thus, payment options best suited to a customer's financial condition will vary as time passes and circumstances change.
Customer Support Representatives (CSRs) at banks, for example, who assist customers in identifying, analyzing and implementing alternative payment programs, typically do so on a transaction by transaction basis. As a result, it is sometimes difficult to identify the payment option(s) best suited and most beneficial to a customer and the bank.
In addition, people in financial difficulty often experience intense anxiety, anger, despondency and other negative feelings, often making such people difficult to interact with personally when discussing their financial problems. Currently, CSRs at banks and other financial institutions tend to rely on their own communication skills when interacting with customers under tense and stressful conditions. Yet, even in cases where CSRs are trained in communicating with customers under such conditions, it is nevertheless difficult to ensure that appropriate responses are uniformly provided.
Thus, there exists a need for an efficient, user-friendly, interactive system capable of integrating pertinent information regarding a customer's financial condition, analyzing this integrated information, and generating payment options and other advice individually tailored and best suited to the customer's financial circumstances. At present such a system does not exist.